Spoilers ahead for Titans S2.
The Judas Contract is one of the few comics that I’m familiar with as far as the Teen Titans go. It involves Deathstroke, much like the second season of Titans does. He’s out for blood and there’s only one real way to stop someone as deadly as he is. The latest season of Titans turns it into a family affair by having Slade’s daughter Rose involved and flashbacks that include his son, Jericho.
Between the Wilson family drama, Titans introduces Aqualad, Superboy, and Krypto. One of those is the best boy, another is a mix of good and bad, and Aqualad just doesn’t last long in the flashbacks we see. Hawk, Dove, and Wonder Girl all think that opening the tower back up is a bad idea and it takes a while, but we learn that Aqualad’s death and how they handled Jericho factor into their bad memories of the place.
For anyone who has read any comics or watched any other superhero show, you know that there will always be those bad moments that seem amplified despite all of the good that’s been done. That’s the case here with the Titans. Those flashback moments that take place and the character introductions are part of why this season felt disjointed. Sometimes an episode will end on a critical moment (Jason falling from a building) and then you have the next episode taking a turn to introduce Superboy. While it does connect by the end of Superboy’s introductory episode, it was jarring and felt like they could have shown Superboy saving Jason and then explaining how he got to that moment with something like “12 hours earlier” (or however long it was). More than one moment like that took me out of things for a time, but thankfully it all worked together eventually. The flow just felt off, which can be detrimental to a show if it’s mishandled for too long.
While the young Titans didn’t really get to be Titans right away, Dick Grayson came around and it only took him seeing Bruce Wayne when he wasn’t really there about 10 times. I liked these mentoring moments that didn’t require Bruce to actually be present. And we certainly didn’t need Batman showing up in any capacity. Instead, we get things from the perspective of Dick’s guilt. He’s so guilt-ridden that he’s about to make the same mistake all over again by going out by himself. And he does make that mistake, but he snaps out of it in time to make things right. He knows what needs to be done and he finally admits that he needs the team to do it (along with a wonderful new suit). Even though he decides to go up against Deathstroke on his own, when Rose shows up, he doesn’t fight with her about it. It’s just as personal for her as it is for him, if not even more so.
Much like the season, I’ve been jumping around a little here. I can’t help but wonder if the disjointed season is to blame for my scattered thoughts or if that just coincidentally happens to be how things came to me in my head. Either way, we can’t talk about this season without specifically talking more about Raven swiftly killing her father, the Starfire storyline, the handling of Jason Todd, and Wonder Girl’s final moment.
I’ll start with Raven killing her father since that’s how the season begins. We pick up right where season 1 left off and it all seemed a bit too easy for Raven. However, the complications that come with her powers later make up for it. There’s no way she’d just kill Trigon and simply walk away from it. Her struggle throughout the season gave her new powers while hurting those around her. There’s still so much for her character to learn and I hope season 3 plans to explore that further.
Starfire had a whole storyline that didn’t finish playing out, but it took her away from the team long enough to have me interested. A royal family squabble that doesn’t stay contained? I’m in. It could be a good opportunity for the team to have an impact on a galactic scale should Starfire choose to not go it alone.
Jason Todd has always been more of a black sheep when it comes to the kids that Bruce Wayne has taken in. Robin is a title that Dick Grayson first held, but he’s outgrown it this season. Todd is impulsive, but he’s always been a fighter. He’s skilled but not as polished as Dick. More than anything, he wants to fit in. Benching him is how Dick thinks he’s helping him, but it does the exact opposite. There’s no doubt that Dick fails him this season. We see how he feels betrayed by Rose later when she confesses to being planted in the Titans’ lives by her father. All Jason needs is a team that will have his back and allow him to become the best version of himself. He does make a quick return at the end of the season, which ties into the final moment I want to bring up.
Donna Troy is undoubtedly a great warrior who worked through a lot of bad feelings as she returned to the tower. She’ll always be a friend to Dick, even when he doesn’t make the smartest decisions, but she’ll also always let him know how she feels about said decisions. When it comes down to saving Superboy, she’s the only one who can go up against him and last more than two seconds. However, it’s not that moment that tells us everything we need to know about her. It’s the moment where she decides to save Dove and a young girl at the carnival once they’ve already saved Superboy. She acts first and it costs her everything. Thankfully, it looks like she won’t be gone for long, but Jason Todd does show up at the airstrip just before Donna is taken back to Themyscira. Raven thinks her newfound power can bring her back, but the show naturally had to leave us hanging until next season.
A lot happened in season 2, to say the least. I think overall it worked because of how the team was brought together. Dawn and Hank had their struggles with their relationship, but they always seem to work as Hawk and Dove no matter what. It took them a while to come to that conclusion, but it was well-earned. The whole team, old and new, has a bond that can’t be broken no matter how upset they get with each other. That’s what made it all work in the end and seeing each of them realize that was a nice moment, even if it will take Jason some more time to fully accept it.
As far as hopes for season 3 go, I think now that Superboy has been added, Deathstroke has been dealt with, and Raven is exploring her new power, they have a lot to work with. I hope they’re able to reign it all in and give us a storyline, or two, that flows much better than this season’s storylines. I’m also excited to see a lot more of the Nightwing suit. Dick Grayson is a lot more fun when he knows who he is.
If you also watched Titans, what did you think of the season?
My Podcasts
Murjani Rawls was on both of my podcasts this week. On Welcome to Geekdom, we discussed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. On Chat Sematary, we talked about Children of the Corn II. One of those movies was much better than the other.
Currently Consuming
I just wrapped up Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King. It took me much longer than planned. I haven’t been a huge fan of most of his collections so far, but I’m going to be discussing this one for a January episode of Chat Sematary soon.
With that book wrapped up, I’m starting Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson today. I’m always excited to dive into new Star Wars books and it feels like the perfect time to do so with the new movie coming soon. I have no doubt that I’ll get through this one pretty quickly.
I’m still enjoying Castle Rock and will have some more thoughts on it for the newsletter once the season concludes next week.
The same goes for Watchmen when that concludes in a couple of weeks.
I’ll also be starting The Tommyknockers miniseries today. I’ve heard that it’s not good, so I likely will only post about it in the newsletter again once that episode of Chat Sematary is published.
My planned comic book reading this week includes Thumbs (thanks to Scott Fugger for the suggestion) and Mister Miracle.